The federal government is removing Spain from the list of corona high-risk areas. A reason to be happy for the travel and tourism industry.
Berlin / Madrid – Travelers had to live with many restrictions and fewer freedoms in the corona pandemic, but now there is reason to be happy: Because there are fewer and fewer new infections with the corona virus in Spain, the federal government is canceling the popular holiday destination the list of high risk areas. This means that the holiday island of Mallorca, which is popular with Germans, is no longer a high-risk corona area.
From Sunday (August 29th, 2021), Spain is no longer a high-risk corona area. This was announced by the Robert Koch Institute. This means that all quarantine regulations for holidaymakers returning from Spain are no longer applicable. The greater Lisbon area will also no longer be a high-risk area from Sunday. The Algarve, the popular holiday region, is the only region in Portugal that remains on the list. From Sunday, Chile will no longer be a high-risk area either.
Corona high-risk areas: Spain is the most popular holiday destination for Germans
Spain is considered the most popular holiday destination for Germans abroad. On July 11, it was classified as a risk area due to the sharp rise in the number of corona infections in the middle of the holiday season, and at the end of July as a high-risk area.
Travelers from high-risk areas have to be in quarantine for ten days in Germany. Vaccinated and convalescent people can avert quarantine if they submit proof of convalescence or vaccination to the German authorities prior to their entry. The quarantine can be shortened in the event of subsequent submission of a recovery or vaccination certificate or a negative test. The Corona regulations mainly affected the tourism industry on Mallorca.
Last Sunday (August 22nd, 2021) the Canary Islands and Catalonia with the tourist metropolis Barcelona and the beaches of the Costa Brava were removed from the list of Corona high-risk areas. Now the whole country is disappearing from the RKI list. In contrast, three Caribbean countries are new: Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia. After the changes on Sunday, there will still be around 70 countries that are fully or partially classified as high-risk areas.
The travel industry welcomes the decision that Spain is no longer a high-risk corona area
The travel industry welcomes the decision to remove Spain from the list. The German Travel Association (DRV) sees this as “good news, especially for families with children under the age of 12”. This young target group in particular could not be vaccinated and thus had no chance to bypass the quarantine, the DRV announced at the request of the dpa news agency. “The revocation of the classification is a significant relief for families traveling – not only for the summer vacation that ends by mid-September at the latest, but also for the upcoming autumn vacation.”
After the decision, Germany’s largest travel company Tui expects an increasing demand for bookings, especially from families. “Above all, this is another push for the families who no longer have to put their children in quarantine,” said Tui spokesman Aage Dünhaupt on Friday (August 27, 2021). This also gives more planning security for the autumn holidays, for example for popular travel destinations such as Mallorca.
Spain no longer corona high-risk area: crisis response center asks for caution
Oliver Neuroth, ARD radio correspondent for Spain and Portugal, wrote on Twitter: “The tourism industry in #Spain breathes a sigh of relief: From Sunday on, Germany will no longer warn against traveling to Spain. But the summer season has as good as gone, the hope now: a golden autumn. ”Despite the decision, the federal government asks that the general Corona hygiene rules be observed. “You are still asked to be particularly careful,” said the Foreign Office’s Crisis Response Center on the short message service.
Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas. Unlike in the past, it is not just the number of infections that is decisive. Other criteria are the speed at which the virus is spreading, the burden on the health system or a lack of data on the corona situation. (tvd / dpa / AFP)
Headline list image: © John-Patrick Morarescu
